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G20
agree to resume WTO talks - WTO chief RIO
DE JANEIRO, Brazil - World Trade Organization chief Pascal Lamy said on
Sunday that rich and developing nations had agreed that talks on a global
trade pact should be renewed although differences remained over farm
subsidies and market access. Lamy, speaking at a news conference at a
meeting in Rio de Janeiro of representatives of the G20 group of
developing nations, the United States, Japan and the European Union, said
that no date had been set for a formal resumption of the Doha round of
talks on the floundering trade deal. It
was the first time officials had met since the Doha round collapsed in
July. The
various sides reached consensus in Rio on the need to resume the talks, he
said. But more work must be done on the issues of farm subsidies and
market access and the players need to know by mid-March if a deal is
possible, Lamy said. Since
the Doha round began in 2001, Brazil, India and other countries that rely
heavily on agriculture exports have focused on trying to cut subsidies and
trade barriers by the United States and the European Union. European
nations and the United States have been unwilling to reduce aid to cotton,
sugar and other products unless they get more access to services and
manufacturing in developing nations. Earlier
on Sunday, the top U.S. trade negotiator said the United States was
committed to a successful outcome of the talks. "We
will do what it takes. If there is potential for a successful round we
will find it," U.S. Trade Representative Susan Schwab told reporters
in Rio after meeting Lamy and Japanese Agriculture Minister Shoichi
Nakagawa. Schwab
also cautioned against expecting any major breakthrough during the Rio
meeting. "There
is always time to resuscitate the talks if the political will is there.
President Bush is committed to a successful outcome of the Doha
round," Schwab said. She
was referring to the expiration in July 2007 of Bush's so-called fast
track negotiating mandate by which Congress must either approve or reject
any eventual trade accord, without making any amendments.
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